Riot bans two Valorant players over heated teabagging dispute

Two Valorant players have been temporarily suspended from participating in Riot-sanctioned events following a heated incident last month over teabagging people in games.

Riot has ruled that Dawn "Dawn" Park is banned from "any association or affiliation with a team in a Riot-sanctioned competition" for three months, while Vivian "Risorah" Dela Cruz has received a nine-month ban (thanks Eurogamer).

The situation kicked off in late June on the Galorants Discord—a community set up to elevate women and non-binary Valorant players—after a member (referred to as Player A in Riot's ruling) posted a message equating teabagging someone in-game to sexual assault. It sparked a fiery debate on the Discord server with both Dawn and Risorah becoming involved, before moderators went ahead and closed down the entire server for a week.

The topic ended up spilling over to Twitter, with figures like streamer Charlie "Cr1tikal" White and Jake Lucky throwing their hat in the ring. During this time, Riot's ruling says "the discussion evolved into an argument spanning multiple Twitter posts. Dawn's responses included a vulgar and targeted remark" towards the unnamed player.

The ruling goes on to say how "Risorah created multiple Twitter posts specifically targeted at Player A, in which Risorah pasted Galorants Discord conversations between themselves and Player A. Risorah proceeded to post a video they edited, in which they amplified and personally added a vulgar commentary around Player A. On June 28, Risorah directly tagged and targeted Player A as the subject of a vulgar post."

Riot says as well as conducting interviews with those involved in the incident, it reviewed "extensive screenshots and video of the alleged violations." All of this has led to both Dawn and Risorah's temporary bans, as Riot says the two were in violation of Rule 7.3.1 (vulgar or hateful speech), while Risorah was also in violation of Rule 7.3.4 (harassment).

Both Dawn and Risorah have responded to the bans with statements released on Twitter. Dawn wrote: "I have friends that have literally been raped. I have watched SA happen in broad daylight. It is not something you can compare to crouching in a video game. I was visibly upset by this, as were hundreds of thousands of people, and replied under her thread expressing my frustrations and concerns."

Risorah said "I will be taking this punishment with the responsibility of my actions that led to my situation," adding: "My future in competitive play or in Valorant in general is unknown, so, we'll see where I go from here."

Dawn's suspension will be lifted after September 27, 2022, while Risorah's suspension will end on March 27, 2023.